1
Dominion General Discussion / The Value of Loan
« on: September 24, 2017, 05:44:08 pm »Loan is much-maligned trasher. It is constantly criticized for what it can't do, but seldom praised for what it does well. It's a card that occasionally "feels bad" when you play it. Perception, however, does not always match up with performance. Let's look at the specific things this card can and cannot do.
Cannot:
- Loan cannot trash Estates
- Loan cannot avoid skipping your good cards
- Loan cannot always trash Copper with Silver in your deck
- Loan cannot trash Copper from your hand
Can
- Loan can trash a Copper from your deck
- Loan can give $4 hands often early
- Loan can be played with an action
The "cannots" are generally overblown and the "cans" underrated. This has led to Loan being ranked 37th out of 49 $3 cards. Normally to argue against this one would compare Loan to another $3 cards that's above it, but it has a far more comparable analog:
Loan vs Spice Merchant
Early in the game, Loan actually has an edge on Spice Merchant. While Spice Merchant has to decide between drawing and non-terminality or a consistent $2, Loan gets non-terminality, $2, and cycling always. As the average value of the deck rises above Copper, +2 Cards becomes more valuable than $2. Once the whole deck is being drawn, Spice Merchant can give +Buy while Loan cannot hit the Coppers in hand. Even though Spice Merchant is clearly the better card overall, it's a testament to Loan's strength that it can compare to one of the stronger $4.
As for a comparable $3, the closest is probably Lookout, which is 17 ranks above Loan. Each has advantages over the other (Lookout can trash Estates but has trouble finding them, Loan can't trash Estates but can easily find Coppers), but overall they are about the same power level. Forager is another comparable card (rank 10) that can trash Estates, but provides no economy until someone trashes a treasure.
TL;DR: Loan could stand to move up 15 or more spots on the rankings.